Open House for 200-Hour Teacher Training

Free Event

Come join Swami Ramananda and Mukunda Morozumi and learn more about our 200-hour Basic Yoga Teacher Training program. We’ve been leading trainings here in San Francisco for over forty years. In fact, the Yoga Alliance standards for teacher training were based on our program. This training will lead you on a time-tested journey to greater self- knowledge, with the support of a vibrant and well-respected spiritual community. Students will receive ongoing weekly mentoring during the training, and we offer mentorship and ongoing training to our graduates.

Our teacher trainers have extensive experience leading the Teacher Training program. They will take this opportunity to tell you more about the curriculum of the training and answer any questions you may have. Sign up for the Basic Teacher Training at the event for a discounted rate!

200-Hour Basic Yoga Teacher Training – Spring session

Lead by Swami Ramananda, Swami Divyananda and Marc Mukunda Morozumi

Spring session schedule: February 20 – May 21, 2020
Schedule:
Tuesdays 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Thursdays 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Sundays 9:30 – 5:00pm

click here for details.

 

Swami Ramananda is the Executive Director of Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco and a greatly respected senior teacher in the Integral Yoga tradition, who has been practicing Yoga for over 40 years. Ramananda offers practical methods of integrating the timeless teachings and practices of yoga into daily life, and transforming the painful aspects of human experience into steps toward realizing one’s full potential.
He leads beginner, intermediate and advanced level yoga teacher training programs in San Francisco, and offers a variety of programs in many locations in the U. S., Europe and South America. Ramananda trains Yoga teachers to bring Yoga into corporate, hospital and medical settings and has taught mind/body wellness programs in many locations. He is a founding board member of the Yoga Alliance, a national registry that supports and promotes yoga teachers as professionals. His warmth, wisdom and sense of humor have endeared him to many.

Swami Divyananda is one of Integral Yoga’s senior monastics and foremost teachers. Over the years she has served as the director of the Integral Yoga Institutes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Coimbatore, India and as the Ashram Manager of Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in Virginia. In addition to teaching at these centers, she has taught Yoga and meditation on special retreats, in corporations and universities, at the Commonwealth Cancer Center and for the Dr. Dean Ornish Heart Disease Programs. For many years she was one of the primary Basic Hatha Yoga teacher trainers at Integral Yoga’s International Headquarters in Yogaville, VA. Swami Divyananda served for eleven years at the Integral Yoga Institute in Coimbatore, South India and led tours throughout South India during that time.

Marc Mukunda Morozumi began his yoga training in 2001 as a student of ashtanga yoga while still dancing with Joe Goode Performance Group in SF. After a spiritual journey to India in 2007 along with life’s bittersweet unfolding by way of injury and heartbreak, he found Integral Yoga as a natural home. Since 2009, Mukunda has deepened his practice with teacher trainings through Integral Yoga and maintains a steady Hatha I/II class on Saturday mornings at the SF IYI. He has recently been a staff member on IYI silent retreats and will be sharing more teachings in workshops in the coming months. You can learn more about him at yogamukunda.com.

2019-12-18T22:59:23-08:00November 29th, 2019|Tags: , |

New Years Eve Celebration

By Donation
With Swami Ramananda, Magdalena Zubin Goldman, Halim and Vakila, Mirabai Warkulwiz and the IYI Sangha

Renew your spiritual vision for 2020, and connect with your Integral Yoga family. Join us for a special evening ringing in the New Year with music, dance, light and love. This year we celebrate the Oneness with special guests Magdalena Zubin Goldman, Halim and Vakila who will be offering Dances of Universal Peace. The Dances of Universal Peace are meditative spiritual folk dances employing inspirational language and mantras of diverse world religions. Well known Kirtan leader Mirabai Warlkulwiz will also lead us in chanting the names of the divine and we will end the evening meditating into the new year.

All donations help offer Yoga classes to underserved populations

Swami Ramananda is the President of the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco and a greatly respected senior teacher in the Integral Yoga tradition, who has been practicing Yoga for over 35 years. Ramananda offers practical methods of integrating the timeless teachings and practices of yoga into daily life, and transforming the painful aspects of human experience into steps toward realizing one’s full potential.

He leads beginner, intermediate and advanced level yoga teacher training programs in San Francisco, and offers a variety of programs in many locations in the U. S., Europe and South America. Ramananda trains Yoga teachers to bring Yoga into corporate, hospital and medical settings and has taught mind/body wellness programs in many locations. He is a founding board member of the Yoga Alliance, a national registry that supports and promotes yoga teachers as professionals. His warmth, wisdom and sense of humor have endeared him to many.

Magdalena Zubin Goldman was initiated into Western Universalist Sufism via Sufi Ruhaniat International in 1974, ordained a Minister in the Universal Worship in 1993, initiated as a Sheika in 1995, and certified as a leader of the Dances of Universal Peace in 2002. She has resided at the Khankah on two occasions, from 1995-1998 and from 2010 to the present.

Halim Friedman and Vakila ter Veld, both recognized as teachers in the sufi lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel L. Lewis. They bring a relaxed, friendly and deep atmosphere to their approach and lead this particular spiritual practice twice monthly in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have also taught in Europe and other parts of the United States.

Mirabai Warkulwiz planted her yoga and meditation roots in San Francisco at the Sivananda Center in 1998. Amazed at her healing of a back injury and many other positive life changes, she became yoga certified through 200-hour teacher training programs both at the Integral Yoga Institute in 2004, and at the Greenpath Ashtanga Studio in 2005. In July 2008 she completed another 170 hour Intermediate Teacher Training program in Asana and Pranayama through the Integral Yoga Institute in Virginia. She is attuned to Reiki Level 1, studies Aryuveda, is a dancer, and enjoys being in communion with nature. She invites all of her yoga students to transcend physical, emotional, and mental blocks to experience more spaciousness, comfort, happiness, clarity, and inner peace. As a Kirtan musician (Mirabai and Friends Kirtan Band) Mirabai leads Kirtan around the Bay Area, and enjoys implementing chanting, sound, and music into class.

2019-11-21T12:08:32-08:00November 10th, 2019|Tags: |

Yoga and MS

By K. Muktidevi Demafeliz

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in October 1998 when I was 18 years old. I recently turned the BIG 4-0 and am currently facing a change in my condition. In August 2018, I took a true LEAP OF FAITH. I was on the Avonex injections taking a weekly shot every Friday for the last 20 years, but had to change up my game. I really took the time to think about all of the possibilities and eventually trusted my decision to transition to a different medication, an infusion therapy known as Rituxan (twice a year infusion vs. 52 shots a year). It’s too early to tell if it’s going to work for me or if it will help in the long run, but I am truly hoping for the best. *hands in prayer*

MS is known as the “invisible illness” as symptoms vary from patient to patient. Intermittent symptoms, visible and invisible, include fatigue, unsteady gait, impaired balance, disrupted walking and fine motor control of the fingers, pain, numbness and tingling feelings, bladder and bowel control, heat sensitivity, memory and cognitive issues, depression, speech and vision impairment, trouble with swallowing, and other neurological symptoms that affect mobility. I have Relapsing-Remitting MS (RRMS). MS is when one’s immune system attacks the brain/spine also known as the Central Nervous System (CNS). Studies have shown that symptoms arise at unpredictable times and can be severe when an “attack” (exacerbation) triggers. Unfortunately, there is no known cause or cure for MS, but I am hoping this new treatment will work for me and continue to stabilize my condition.

This is one of the main reasons why I sought yoga in the first place, because of my MS, but to also center and balance my mind, body, and spirit. I’ve been practicing yoga for 11 years and teaching for 7 years now. I’m continuing to strive to keep my condition stable, but between the ages of 18-23 years, I was in severely bad shape which had me in a wheelchair, a walker, and using a cane. It was a blessing that I had fully regained my mobility and ability to walk, and today I practice yoga as an “able-bodied” person would. I’m hoping this status will remain as I come into my 40s.

Yoga for people with MS can be such a powerful tool! There are many benefits to be gained from practicing gentle hatha yoga, especially the asanas (or poses) that can be taught in a restorative series, wheelchair or chair series, seated postures, seated/floor series, through pranayama and relaxation. This can assist with reducing fatigue, improving range of motion, improving spasticity, increasing strength, increasing coordination and balance, assisting in a patient’s confidence and calmness, as well as slowly beginning to advance with more postures specifically tailored to each student. Some of these gains could also be increased motility for digestion, increased circulation, and in many cases, significant relief from the depression that often accompanies the symptoms of MS. Yoga is not a cure for MS. I am not cured, but having my own yoga practice has certainly enabled me to handle my MS in a much more effective manner than before, and has enabled me to maintain a life that sometimes surprises me.

Yoga is valuable to people with MS for three reasons: First, the practice of yoga reduces functional deficits. Second, it increases self-reliance since it fosters independence and can be carried out independently. And third, it is one of the principal aims, in fact the principal aim of yoga, to steady and quiet the mind. Gentle, low-impact yoga is the perfect physical exercise or movement for people living with MS. I personally love a fast-paced yoga practice such a Vinyasa or Integral Yoga Flow, but it’s good that I have other alternatives to practice when I am not feeling well. Studies show that after six months of practicing yoga and learning a variety of yoga postures, one can combat fatigue, reduce spasticity, relieve stress, and increase range of motion and other symptoms, which have been significantly reduced. It is important for an MS patient to have a steady yoga practice which can self-transform and to also offer something even more important: hope.

Yoga is such a beautiful, profound, and powerful system that can assist an MS patient by empowering them to do more for themselves to the best of their ability. While yoga won’t cure MS, it can be helpful in reducing symptoms, which is enough reason to try it out if one is interested. As someone with a chronic and unpredictable illness, I know that yoga help one feel more in touch with the body as well as help them live more comfortably in it. Through postures and breathing, a steady yoga practice may improve posture, increase stamina and flexibility, and teach one how to relax and focus. There is a possibility to see positive changes in one’s flexibility and strength, even from week to week. You may not see or feel the benefits right away, but don’t let that discourage you. The one piece of advice that I give to people just starting out or rediscovering yoga: Give it a chance for at least two weeks. The first couple of sessions won’t be pretty or fluid. However, before you know it you will be doing things that you thought were impossible and feeling pretty darn good about it.

 

K. Muktidevi Demafeliz is a born and raised San Franciscan and has been a yoga practitioner for 11 years. Her yoga practice began with her mentor Anthony “Tony” Garcia who guided her in the study of yoga back in 2012. He encouraged her to pursue yoga teacher training, which she did, in the Integral Yoga tradition. She is certified in Basic Hatha I, Accessible Yoga (Gentle) and in May 2018 received her certification to teach Intermediate Hatha II. She wishes to pursue future trainings in Prenatal Yoga and Yoga for Trauma. YOGA IS HER PASSION and it has changed her life in such a positive and healthy way. She is a Yogini who also lives with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for the past 21 years and continues to live one day at a time, living at her best.

2019-10-21T13:35:55-07:00October 9th, 2019|Tags: |

POSTPONED: Graceful Transitions – 3-day workshop

POSTPONED – new dates TBA

November 13 – 15 , 2020 (Friday – Sunday)

  • Friday 6:30pm – 9:00pm PT
  • Saturday & Sunday  9:00am – 12:00pm & 1:00pm – 5:30pm PT

Death is often a taboo subject. This workshop is for anyone who wants to develop a harmonious relationship with death. Dr. Andrea Deerheart will guide you through a personal exploration of your personal myths, fears, philosophies, beliefs, and feelings as they relate to this process of transformation.

This workshop is designed for anyone who is living with a life-threatening illness, terminal illness, their caregivers, friends and family or anyone interested in developing a more harmonious relationship with dying and death

This workshop will include:
• Learning how to Bridge the Gap between life and death
• Experiential process exercises and discussion
• The Practice of Yoga Nidra: Graceful Transitions
• Individual and Small Group Work

Tuition:

$290.00 early bird price, expires 11/6/2020
$325.00
(partial scholarship available for eligible applicants)

Continuing Education Certification:

  • Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, License No. CEP17457, for 18 Contact Hours.
  • CAMFT Approved Continuing Education Provider 144888. Course meets the qualifications for 16.5 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
  • The CEU certificates issued by Dr. Deerheart upon request.

About the Trainer

Dr. Andrea Deerheart is the passionate founder of the HeartWay, a non-profit foundation dedicated to Embracing Life and Honoring Death. Using wisdom gathered from decades of guiding the living and dying; physically, emotionally, and spiritually, Deerheart has provided care and healing on the journey conscious living and dying for more than 20 years. With a doctorate in Depth Psychology, her primary work focuses on issues relating to aging, cultural mythology , death and dying, as well as grief and loss. Deerheart is also a RYT 500 yoga teacher and a certified classical Yoga Nidra Instructor. She is also the author / narrator of the recording, Yoga Nidra: Graceful Transitions.

2020-11-12T12:29:07-08:00October 4th, 2019|Tags: |
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